Ryan W Wants It ‘Hardcore’ - VIDEO

In case you ever wondered what an explosion of go-go-boys, glitter and a gold ball gag would look like, Ryan W has taken out the guesswork for you with the music video for his new single, "Hardcore." 

Says Ryan:

“When other gay artists and drag queens drop beige, blasé tracks that aren’t even suitable for elevator music, then pair them with videos that only make you change the channel, it makes it a real challenge to be taken seriously and not seen as forgettable or throw-away. It's time for a change!”

Get the party started, AFTER THE JUMP…

Virginia Repeals Unconstitutional Sodomy Ban

Virginia’s House of Delegates on Thursday unanimously passed in a 100 to 0 vote a bill that would eliminate the state’s unconstitutional ban on sodomy that criminalized oral and anal sex since 1950, ThinkProgress reports. Previously approved by the Virginia state senate in a similar unanimous vote, the bill now awaits Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s signature or veto. 

The statute in question, Virginia’s Crimes Against Nature law, technically should have been made defunct after the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas which found that the state could not infringe on the rights of adult individuals to have consensual sex. However, many Republican legislators in Virginia, including former gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, fought to keep it in place. The sodomy ban was battered in the courts and the Supreme Court made sure to keep clear of the case. Court rulings have also caused additional complications for those backing the law:

Last year, the federal courts overturned the conviction of a man charged, under Virginia’s Crimes Against Nature law, of soliciting a 17-year-old female for oral sex — a felony under the statute. Because that law — first enacted in 1950 to prohibit oral and anal sex, as well as bestiality — had not been updated, the court ruled it was unenforceable, putting the convictions of other sexual offenders and child predators at risk.

In response, Sen. Thomas A. Garrett (R) filed a bill in December that would have eliminated the ban on adult consensual sodomy, but would have made oral sex between 17-year-olds a felony, even if they were legally married. After ThinkProgress reported on this possibly unintended consequence, Garrett and the Senate Courts of Justice Committee agreed on a substitute version that generally treats all sex equally.

More than a decade after the Lawrence decision, several other states still have sodomy bans on the books, including Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

Bigot Pastor Claims Gays And Lesbians Are Punished By Being Made Effeminate And Mannish: VIDEO

Pastor Larry Tomczak has seen the execution of God's will and the punishment He enacts on gays and lesbians for being who they were born to be. Citing Romans 1:27, which states that gays and lesbians "receive in their own bodies the penalty for their sin," he remarkably avoids the low-hanging fruit of HIV/AIDS and instead says that this "penalty" is that gay men become more effeminate and lesbians become more "mannish." Yes, deviating from "God's loving design and plan" means the Almighty will curse one with gender non-conformity. 

While I could anecdotally provide a dozen or so gay men so masculine they'd make Marlon Brando or James Dean seem queer, the validity in Tomczak's assertion that heterosexual relationships encourage masculine behavior can be found rather easily in Marcus Bachmann.

You can see Pastor Tomczak's remarks AFTER THE JUMP...

The LGBT Guide To SXSW 2014: What's On Our Radar

The 2014 South By Southwest Festival kicks off this weekend in Austin, Texas and Towleroad will be providing updates on the best in LGBT-themed interactive, film and music from the week-long event. Here's a round-up of what's on our radar (click on the links for event details):

Keep reading AFTER THE JUMP...

INTERACTIVE

Building Empathic Games for Healthy Outcomes - Can you build emotional coping skills and empathy for people unlike yourself through a video game? LongStory, "a queer-positive dating game for pre-teens," hopes to do just that. The game's developers will discuss how we can make emotional reflection and growth part of a progressive social experience. (Friday, March 7 at 3:30PM)

Speed Networking – LGBT Meet Up: A chance to connect with a bunch of LGBT folks, exchange ideas and Twitter handles, and meet up later. (Friday, March 7 at 5PM)

Orgasm: The Broadband of Human Connection - Nicole Daedone — author of Slow Sex: The Art and Craft of the Female Orgasm — discusses orgasmic meditation and how it relates to spirituality, gender communication and everyday living. (Friday, March 7 at 5PM)

Life Lessons from a Professional Dominatrix - Princess Kali commands you to come and hear how her kinky career involving “foot worship, latex catsuits, and a stable of full-time submissives” taught her a life’s worth of life-changing insights. (Saturday, March 8 at 1:15PM)

Growth & Identity: A Dialogue with Burning Man - Over the past three decades, the Burning Man Festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert  has gone from a small tribal gathering to one of the largest artistic social events in the world. How can a small creative movement stay true to its ideals as it becomes increasingly mainstream? The LGBT community could probably learn a thing or two... (Saturday, March 8 at 8PM)

Without Their Consent: Ending Revenge Porn - Anyone who has ever worried about having their private sexts and nakey-pics splashed across the web by an angry ex may want to hear about the rise of so-called "revenge porn" and what web users and companies are doing to fight it. (Saturday, March 8 at 5PM)

From Stranger To Lover In One Swipe - Grindr has been blamed for everything from the death of the gay bar and the dehumanization of gay men to a potential vehicle for hate crimes. But is the hook-up app the future of mobile digital intimacy or will dating networks work much differently form how they do now. Grindr founder Joel Simkhai discusses the possibilities. Plus, you're invited  to a free Grindr party at the local gay bar Rain on Saturday, March 8 at 10pm. (Sunday, March 9 at 5pm)

A Virtual Conversation with Glenn Greenwald - Ever since he helped expose the National Security Agency's widespread surveillance of American citizens, gay journalist Glenn Greenwald (pictured) has been called a criminal, has started a venture into independent media and now lives in Brazil with his harassed partner. At his live-cast he'll discuss the future of journalism, civil liberties and politics. (Monday, March 10 at 3:30pm)

How Social Media Is Creating Marriage Equality - The USA's recent marriage equality victories have come about in part thanks to concerted viral messaging from passionate activists and real people harmed by anti-gay laws. American Foundation for Equal Rights' Matt Baume and a YouTube official explain how Facebook and video-sharing sites have helped "win the hearts and minds of a nation." (Monday, March 10 at 5pm)

Reducing Isolation in LGBT Communities - Homeless LGBT youth, isolated LGBT seniors and LGBT people without internet access have remained voiceless and under-represented in the digital sphere. But mobile, social and web technologies are changing this trend. Can we finally get an internet that reflects the true diversity of the LGBT community? (Monday, March 10 at 12:30pm)

Apple After Steve Jobs - How has Apple's not-so-openly gay CEO Tim Cook changed the iconic computer company now that the company's legendary co-founder has passed? Has it been for the better or "Did Apple's vision die with Steve Jobs?" A reporter who has interviewed over 200 industry insiders takes a look. (Tuesday, March 11 at 2:30pm)

FILM

The Dog - During the summer of 1972, John Wojtowicz robbed a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s gender reassignment surgery. If that sounds familiar to you, it’s because the incident was later turned into a movie with Al Pacino called Dog Day Afternoon. Now you can hear Wojtowicz's story “in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way.”

Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival Filmmaker Brunch - The southwest’s oldest and largest LGBTQI film festival holds an excellent brunch with its usual mix of opinionated organizers, charming schmoozers and good-lookin’ folks. Mimosas anyone? Kindly RSVP.

EASY - Openly gay director Daniel Laabs presents the world premiere of his dramatic narrative short about two brothers, one on the verge of adulthood, the other on the verge on adolesence.

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz - A documentary examining the legacy of the bisexual Reddit co-founder who committed suicide at age 26 amid a two-year legal battle involving free access to digital information.

LADY VALOR: The Kristin Beck Story - You may remember Kristin Beck, the former Navy Seal who came out as trans in her book Warrior Princess and later called convicted transgender Wikileaker Private Chelsea Manning “a traitor to me personally.” She’s now in a documentary discussing her own transformative journey.

Ukraine Is Not A Brothel - The Ukrainian "sextremist" feminist group FEMEN has dedicated itself to "fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations - sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion." But how can these women beat sex trafficking while using their own sexual bodies as a protest? Director Kitty Green goes inside FEMEN to untangle the seeming contradictions.

David Hockney IN THE NOW (in six minutes) - A quick look at iconic, gay British artist — a man whose iPhone still life paintings recently appeared in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Stage Fright - Becoming a Broadway diva isn't all it's cracked up to be; especially when someone cracks up and starts murdering people left and right. Will starry-eyed teenager Camilla Swanson make it past the final curtain call or will she be  lethally cut from the cast?

Born to Fly - Lesbian choreographer Elizabeth Streb has become famous for her "high-impact investigations of gravity, momentum, and force." Born to Fly looks at the philosophy and passion behind Streb's dynamic work and the tenacity required by her dancers to soar in her arial circus.

Premature - This teenage comedy about an ambitious young man reliving the same day over and over again has a plot similar to Groundhog Day. Only, instead of an alarm clock playing Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe," he wakes up he instant he prematurely climaxes from a handjob. (WARNING: trailer above NSFWish)

The Case Against 8 - Five years in the making, The Case Against 8 follows two same-sex couples at the heart of California’s gay marriage battle and looks behind-the-scenes at the lives and legal issues surrounding the infamous anti-gay law known as Proposition 8.

Unicorn Council - A stop-motion animated short about sassy space unicorns that save a city from an evil man-eating cat. Oh yes.

Chef - Bisexual actor John Leguizamo appears in this culinary drama about a celebrated chef who tries business on his own as a food-trucker after being fired from a hoity-toity restaurant.

MUSIC

It can be hard to tell which bands have LGBT members in them because most bands put their sound ahead of their individual identities. That being said, a few musicians in this year's line-up are letting their rainbow flags fly. Here's just a few:

HYENAZ - Costumes, synthesizers and pastiche makes for a mesmerizing brew with Hyenaz, a European electronic group that has worked with Peaches, Bonaparte, DJ Hell and Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black.

Las Kumbia Queers - These six chicas from Argentina and Mexico (pictured above) reinterpret romantic Latin-American machismo with a sensual swirl of fun and politics for a Tropi-punk sound that's been rockin' Europe for the past few years.

Mom Jeans - This low-fi garage punk band enjoys the small pleasures of smoking weed at church, before school and at your grandma's house. Their SXSW profile says, "PORCH PUNK//PIZZA GOSPEL//QUEER CHZBURGERS//ILLUMINAUGHTY." No, literally, that's all it says.

Jef Barbara - If Roxy Music, David Bowie and an unnamed dance diva all had a glamorous love-child, that kid would pretty much sound like Jef Barbara, a performer who bares his soul when singing about impaired communication, artistic quackery, chronic lateness and erotic longing.

Magic Mouth - The Portland-based punk-soul-funk blend weaves a religious aura around their captivating concerts — the sort that gets your body moving,  brow sweating and  ears jamming along to their intoxicating beat.

Wheelchair Sports Camp - The Village Voice said of this Denver-based rapper, "If there were ever a moment for a queer, disabled rapper with a love for pot, jokes, and revolution to be a star, the moment is now." We can't wait!

CHRISTEENE - If you haven't seen this self-proclaimed drag-terrorist parade her be-pantied male dancers onstage like a pair of pretty pony-slaves, you haven't actually lived. And if her scandalously over-the-top floor show doesn't hook you, her shameless raps about hetero sodomy, African Mayonnaise and vaginal rainstorms will.

The Outlander Project - The local gay bar Oilcan Harry's will be working with The Outlander Project to hold a SXSW kickoff party the night of Friday March 7 followed by a week of musical performances by out artists such as Patrice Pike, Cakes Da Killa and Big Dipper. More about their line-up here (Friday, March 7 to Saturday, March 15)

GAYBIGAYGAY - GayBiGayGay is a queer music festival cobbled together annually by Austin's delightfully weird creative community. The glitter-trash decorations and occasionally costumed cuties are icing on a day-long rainbow-colored cake filled with great music, a picnic atmosphere and a DIY spirit. That being said, the organizers do their damndest to keep the event free, so donations are totally welcome. More about their line-up here. (Sunday, March 16 all-day)

COMEDY

Keep an eye out for hilarious gay comedian James Adomian. In addition to his riotous impersonations of Jesse Ventura, Gary Busey and Fred Phelps, he's got great bits on homophobic football ads and the gay villain archetype in children's entertainment (think the lisping Kaa from The Jungle Book or the brassy sea witch, Ursula). He's got a slew of sets throughout SXSW, including The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail at 8 p.m. on Sunday and The Creek and The Cave Presents at 10 p.m. Monday, both at Esther's Follies.

(GayBiGayGay image above via)

Gay Group Receives 'Hostile' Rejection From St. Patrick's Day Parade Organizers: VIDEO

Gay organizations have a troubled history with the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and are routinely banned from marching in several cities, Boston in particular. This year it appeared that progress, slight as it was, was being made as the gay rights group MassEquality was invited to march, provided none of the members wore t-shirts or held signs that included the word "gay" or referenced their orientation.

That millimeter forward just took a big step back. Parade organizers have now rescinded the invitation after the parade's sponsor, the Allied War Veterans Council, claimed that MassEquality lied on its application and attempted to enter the parade under false pretenses, saying that it wasn't a legitimate veteran's group.

At a closed door City Hall meeting last night it was made clear to us that the LGBT Veterans for Equality do not have 20 United States Veterans who wish to march. Rather, they presented only one supposed Veteran (sic) and a group of others carrying rainbow flags. When asked about a Color Guard, their loan (sic) Veteran replied that he wasn’t sure he could supply any more Veterans willing to march.

It is our belief that the application submitted to us by LGBT Veterans for Equality was a ploy by them to enter this parade under false pretenses and is hereby denied. It is our intention to keep this parade a family friendly event. We will not allow any group to damage the Integrity (sic) of the historic event or our reputation as a safe and fun filled day for all.

MassEquality wanted gay veterans to be able to march openly and proudly, and were shocked by the hostile rejection from the parade organizers.

“We know from experience that change comes through conversation and dialogue. We were encouraged to have an historic opportunity to meet face-to-face with Parade organizers to discuss a contingent involving LGBT veterans, and we did so with open hearts and open minds. We regret that the Parade organizers shut down conversation before an agreement could be finalized,” MassEquality executive director Kara Coredini said in a press release.

Added Coredini: “We were under the impression that negotiations were positive and ongoing, and we were surprised by the abrupt and hostile tone of the Parade organizers’ rejection.”

You can see CBS Boston's coverage of the story (autoplay) AFTER THE JUMP...

Asteroid Break-Up Captured On Film For The First Time: VIDEO

NASA’s Hubble Telescope captured pictures of the P/2013 R3 asteroid breaking up into 10 pieces between October last year and mid-January, The Guardian reports. Though “fragile comet nuclei have been seen falling apart as they near the sun, nothing resembling this type of breakup has been observed before in the asteroid belt.”

The largest four pieces among the group are approximately 200 yards in radius.

“[The astronomers] said it was unlikely that the asteroid is breaking up because of a collision with another, because that would have caused an "instantaneous and violent" break up.

They said that the break up is also unlikely to have been caused by interior ices warming and vapourising because it is too cold – being nearly 300 million miles from the sun.

Professor Jewitt, who led the astronomical forensics investigation into the asteroid, said that it could have disintegrated due to a "subtle effect of sunlight".

He said that this can cause the rate of rotation to increase slightly, which causes the asteroid's component pieces to gently pull apart due to "centrifugal force".

This type of disruption has been discussed by experts for several years but has never been reliably observed.

The disparate parts of the once unified asteroid have since released a joint statement saying they are never, ever getting back together.

Watch the asteroid break-up for yourself, AFTER THE JUMP...